A Heart Worth Loving

Sitting in the Mystic Grill, Layla screwed up yet another piece of paper and groaned in frustration. Checking her watch, she saw that it was nearly time to head over to Elena's and started clearing the table.

All night she had felt as if someone was watching her, but out on the street alone the feeling seemed to get stronger and she quickened her pace. Arriving at Elena's, Layla knocked on the door and scanned her surroundings nervously as she waited for somebody to answer.

"Hey," Elena greeted as she opened the door, stepping aside and motioning for Layla to enter, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's probably just me being paranoid," Layla replied, entering the kitchen and leaning against the counter.

"What's probably just you being paranoid?" Stefan asked as he joined them, hugging Layla and watching her expectantly.

"It felt like somebody was watching me at the Grill earlier and I freaked myself out a little, but there was nobody around... I checked."

"It could have been Damon," Elena suggested as she made dinner.

"Maybe, but Damon would have shown himself if he knew that Lay was freaking out and he's out with Ric," Stefan argued.

"Seriously guys, can we just drop it?"

"Sure," they both agreed as someone knocked on the door.

Taking the opportunity to escape the conversation, Layla went to open the door and found Damon standing on the doorstep with Ric. Letting them in, she followed them back into the kitchen and took a seat on the counter.

"There's a new hunter in town," Damon announced, drawing everyone's attention to him and continuing, "We stumbled across his trailer out in the woods."

"What's he hunting though?" Elena inquired.

"We found wolfsbane and vervain vials in a duffel bag, plus he's packing some serious heat," Ric said, showing them pictures on his phone and continuing as he pulled up a picture of some files that they'd found, "We think that he is looking for these people in particular, but we should still keep a close eye on him and track his movements."

Taking a closer look at the files, Layla realized that she knew the people and felt a slight hint of fear wash over her. It was late by the time she decided to head home, accepting a lift from Ric and heading straight up to her room. Waking up the following morning to her phone chiming, Layla grabbed it off the side and opened the new text message that her brother had sent.

Smiling at how excited he was to see her, she sent him back a response and made her way downstairs to the kitchen.

"Morning gran."

"Good morning Sweetie, this parcel came for you earlier..." Her gran informed her, pointing to a small box that was on the counter, "Did you order something?"

"Just some baking supplies, it might be the muffin cases," Layla stated, collecting the box and opening it to find a locket with a note. 'Memories of the time we shared together' she read, picking up the locket and taking a look at the pictures inside.

Running back upstairs to her room, Layla looked at the pictures around her mirror and found that some of them were missing. Swallowing nervously, she put the locket in her school bag with the note and shouted a quick goodbye as she rushed out the door. Knowing that Damon would be at the house, Layla made her way there and let herself in.

"Layla, what..." Damon started as he appeared from nowhere.

"Please tell me that you took them."

"Took what?"

"The photo booth pictures that we took last month," Layla explained, "The ones that I said you could have."

"I haven't got them... I thought they were on your wall at home."

"They were," Layla mumbled, retrieving the locket from her bag and handing it to him, "At least I thought they were until this came in the post for me and I discovered that they were gone... someone's been in my room."